Kubrat Pulev vs. Joey Dawejko this Saturday night in Germany

By Boxing News - 04/03/2014 - Comments

pulev5By Allan Fox: IBF mandatory heavyweight challenger Kubrat Pulev (19-0, 10 KO’s) finally has an opponent for his scheduled 8-round fight on Saturday night on the undercard of the Enzo Maccarinelli vs. Jurgen Braehmer card at the Stadhalle, Rostock, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany.

Pulev will be fighting the 23-year-old Joey Dawejko (9-3-2, 3 KO’s). Pulev was rumored to be fighting Ellijah McCall, but he chose not to take the fight against him. Pulev’s promoters were then forced to hunt down Dawejko and have him fill in at the last second.

This this is a stay busy one for the 33-yesar-old Pulev, who wants to stay sharp for his mandatory title shot against IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko for later on this year. In terms of actually helping Pulev get ready for the 6’6” Wladimir, I don’t think Dawejko will be able to help him in that department, because he’s only 5’10,” and nothing like Wladimir in terms of size, speed, power, experience or skill. Dawejko is the complete opposite of Wladimir, and pretty much a complete waste of time for Pulev.

The fact that he feels he needs this fight to get him sharp for Wladimir gives you a glimpse into the mind of Pulev. He’s obviously feeling worry. He would be better off staying out of the ring and focusing on sparring taller fighters than facing a little heavyweight without the kinds of skills and size that he’ll be dealing with when he meets up with Wladimir later this year.

Dawejko has defeats against Charles Martin, Didier Bence, and Dorsett Barnwell. That’s not a good sign that he’s been beaten by fighters of this low quality, because Pulev is a lot better than those guys by far. However, Dawejko did beat the capable Derric Rossy by an 8 round split decision in his last fight in January, so that has to be interpreted as a good sign that he’s at least improving. But beating the likes of Rossy and that of Pulev is a whole different matter. Pulev is a jabbing machine, and he’s got good size at 6’4 ½” 252 lbs. He’s not much of a power puncher, but he is good at hitting and then getting out of the way of his opponents shots before they can nail him.

In his last two fights, Pulev has beaten Joey Abell and Tony Thompson. He still hasn’t beaten anyone dangerous during his career, though, so it’s going to be interesting to see how Pulev does when he eventually gets in the ring with Wladimir.



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